As Princes Go
by ewon
Summary: This is about the greatest prince that ever lived and his not so great princess. AtobeXOC
1. How They Met

Sometimes you can find your love from the most unexpected places. The person you fall in love with may be someone you've never thought you'd have anything to do with. But as faith has its own ways of doing things you never know what will happen next. Perhaps all you need is a little push. For Ayako that little push happened to be a rather painful smack from Ohtori Choutarou's famous scud serve. In fact, it was a _very_ painful smack, powerful enough to knock her out. Imagine it yourself. How would you feel if a tennis ball hit you in the face 200 km/h? Trust me, it hurts. In this particular case it wasn't sure who got hurt more badly, the one in the receiving end of the ball or the one who had actually hit the ball. Ohtori Choutarou had been doing his special serve in frustration, hitting the balls angrily and without bothering to look where they ended up. Upon hearing a pained yelp and a thud he turned to see what was going on. What he saw was a girl lying flat on her back on the ground with a huge red mark on her forehead. He also saw the cause for her current state, lying next to book that had flown out of the girl's hand: a bright yellow tennis ball. Now, as we all know, Ohtori is a kind, gentle person who wouldn't hurt a fly. And there, at his feet, was a girl, knocked out because of him. He did not like it. He nearly freaked out.

"O-oi! Are you allright? Hey!" he shouted as he dived to his knees and peered at her. When she didn't move he bent a little closer as if thinking that if he looked close enough he could see that she was only playing and was actually okay. But to his disappointment it appeared that she really was uncouncious. And it was his fault. "What should I do?"

If you think that Ohtori is the prince of this story you think wrong. That's because despite the fact that Ohtori would make a wonderful prince, the nicest, the most charming one, it is painfully obvious who holds his interest and it's not some unknown, stupid girl who walks around getting hit in the head with a scud serve. 

"Oi, Choutarou! What're you doing?" Behold, here comes the reason Ohtori can not be the prince. It's in a form of an average sized boy, with a cap and a bad temper.

"Shishido-san!" Ohtori exlaimed with relief. "I…she…I hit-"

Shishido bent down to look at the girl on the ground. "Whoa! What happened to her?"

Ohtori bit his lip in embarrassment. "I…accidently hit her with the scud serve. I didn't mean to!"

"The scud serve?" Shishido blinked at that. Then he chuckled. "That must've been a sight!"

"Shishido-san! You shouldn't say such a thing. What if she's really badly hurt?" the younger boy said with a worried expression.

Shishido smiled at him. Ohtori was the one that brought out his soft side. "In any case we should bring her to the nurse and…"

Let's leave the boys for a while and think over the question: Who _is_ the prince of this story? It's not Ohtori or Shishido, that much is clear. It's not Echizen Ryoma either. He has spent enough time as a prince, it's time for others to have their chance. By now you must've realised it's someone from Hyotei since Ohtori and Shishido are involved in the early stage of this story. So which one? Here's a hint. He would definitely _ not_ agree on being a prince. He would say that it's an insult against him to call him that. Anyone with eyes (and even the ones who don't have them) could easily tell that he's more like a king, or better even, a god. That's what he would say. Guessed yet? If not it's time to take cover and hide 'cause this prince (yes, we will call him prince no matter _how_ much he would like to be a god) will order Kabaji to beat you to a bulp and Kabaji will most likely say 'usu'. Now, enough with this talk and let's give the Prince Charming a warm welcome for he is about to enter the scene.

As princes go Atobe was certainly fitting as far as looks were concerned. When it came to his personality, however, well...that's a different story. Sure, he had charisma, he had leadership skills but if you ask someone who doesn't like him and/or isn't afraid of him that someone will describe him in another light. In a rather, should we say, unflattering one. Perhaps he would call Atobe-sama bossy, arrogant, selfish or even lower himself to using such words as pighead or something similar. But the shadow that this person would throw on Hyotei's most adored boy would easily be driven away by Atobe's own, shining excistance. So perhaps he was vain and arrogant but, and he himself would be the first person to confirm this, he had every reason to be. With dashing good looks, mind as sharp as a razorblade and awesome athletic ability as well as natural taste and skill for leadership and a shit load of money…need one say more? And if that isn't enough to assure everyone of Atobe-sama's superiority…well, it was a widely known fact that every year on February 14th he armed himself (or rather Kabaji) with an extra bag or two, just so he could carry his chocolate around. Atobe didn't bother himself with false modesty, he understood that people loved him (what's there not to love?) and he readily took each and every one of the little packages with pink hearts on them. Here he showed a sense of equality like a true sovereign: he didn't make any difference between beutiful and ugly, man and woman or rich and poor (not that Hyotei really had many poor people, only the ones that got in with the help of some kind of a stipend). All of them he took and gave Kabaji to put in the bags reserved for that purpose. If the chocolate was bigger than usual he graciously gave a little nod (for he was very fond of chocolate), if it was his favourite label he could even give a tiny smile. Of course it went without saying that he would not give anything to anyone on White Day. With this little paragraph describing Atobe Keigo-sama's personality and his position in school in mind, let's go on with the story.

"Should I carry her there now, Shishido-san? Perhaps we should try to wake her up first?" Ohtori said while gazing at the knocked out girl.

"Yeah, we could try that", Shishido agreed and was about to shake the girl when a new voice came from behind them.

"Shishido, Ohtori, what are you doing and who is that girl? She's not supposed to be on the courts."


	2. The Prince Appears

"She's not supposed to be on the courts."

Shishido and Ohtori turned to see Atobe standing next to them with rest of the Hyotei regulars behind him. (Of course they were behind him. Who would be brave enough to stand in _front_ of him?) "Ah, Atobe-san! We were just about to try and wake her up", Ohtori explained, a little worried seeing a frown on Atobe's face. Atobe didn't usually frown because it gives you wrinkles and he knew that one is never too young to start worrying about wrinkles.

"Wake her up? Why is she sleeping here? Kabaji, wake her up and take her somewhere else." Atobe turned and started walking away but stopped when Mukahi stated excitedly: "Ah! She's awake!" Atobe turned around again and examined the girl with an annoyed look on his face.

And we will also take this opportunity to study the princess of this story a little closer. She was a very ordinary looking girl. There was nothing particular about her. She was average sized and had a plain face. She wore round glasses that blurred her eyes. The red mark on her forehead didn't make her any more attractive either. Right now she had a confused and scared look on her face which greatly deepend when she noticed that the great Atobe-sama was glaring at her. Being shy and easily intimitated by nature she gasped and tried to back away only to bump into Shishido who was crouching beside her.

"Whoa, take it easy! That was quite a smack you got there", Shishido said with suppressed laughter in his voice.

"That ugly mark on her head is your doing, Shishido?" Oshitari asked, slightly curious.

Ayako quickly put her hand on her forehead and winced. The mark was throbbing with pain. She tried hard to remember what had happened but all she could recall was a sudden pain and then nothing. She would've tried to remember even harder had she not looked up and see Atobe's frowning face. With a little yelp she grabbed her book and stood up. Unfortunetaly for her but fortunetaly for us and the story she had stood up too quickly. She felt dizzy and started to fall. Panicking, she tried to take a hold of something and was relieved when her attempt succeeded. But her relief soon turned into horror as she saw what her hand had caught. The sleeve of Hyotei's tennis captain's jacket. What was even worse was that instead of preventing her from falling this little act had caused Atobe to loose his balance as well. The last thought that went through her mind before hitting the ground was 'Oh no! I'm going to die!'

Silence fell. Everyone watched as if in slow motion how Atobe's eyes widened in shock, how he tried to regain his balance but in vain, how he -using his trained reflexes- made sure that the girl was under him when he fell and most of all they watched as the left sleeve of his jacket got a clear, green stain to it from the grass. Silence went on uninterrupted.

'Oh no!' Ohtori thought.

'Whoops!' Shishido thought.

'That's not good.' Oshitari thought.

'Hahaha!' Mukahi thought.

'…' Hiyoshi thought.

'…usu…' Kabaji thought.

'Zzz…' Jiroh thought. Actually he was sleeping a little further away so he didn't see what happened and hence his thought has absolutely nothing to do with the whole scene.

Atobe sat up. He was sitting on Ayako's legs but she chose to remain silent about it. Slowly, _oh so slowly_, Atobe turned his eyes to meet the ugly stain on his otherwise spotless jacket. The silence had by now become terrifying. Ayako lay on the grass motionless and stiff, unable to make a sound. Her legs were starting to ache but the mere thought of mentioning this to Atobe made her flinch.

"Girl…" Atobe's first words were full of threat. "You realise that you have to compensate for this?"

"Y-yes", Ayako answered weakly. She wondered which part of her body would she be willing to sacrifice. A leg, maybe?

Atobe stood up. He turned to look at the sky. "Kabaji, write this down", Kabaji said 'usu', "Walking on tennis courts without a permission. Grabbing ore-sama's arm. Making ore-sama fall. Staining ore-sama's clothes." After every announced crime Ayako's dread grew a bit. Atobe bent down and picked up the ball that had hit Ayako in the face. "Damaging the tennis club's property." An unreasonable accusation but Atobe was after blood and wasn't going to be satisfied until he could crucify the offending girl. He took off his jacket and threw it on Ayako. "First of all you will have this cleaned."

"Y-yes."

Atobe eyed her thoughtfully. How could he punish the girl? It wasn't just for compensation, no, he also had to maintain his reputation as the unforgiving and strict tennis captain, otherwise he could lose his authority and that would be unacceptable. So, back to the problem: how the hell should she be punished? It wasn't as easy as everyone seemed to think. Coming up with proper punishments that is. Of course as far as the tennis club members were conserned it was simple -just make them run laps. But when it came to outsiders Atobe was at a loss. Racking his brains for the right solution he failed to notice that his expression had become really scary, so scary that even Ohtori felt a bit uneasy not to mention Ayako who now began to shake uncontrollably with fear. Yes, Atobe certainly had a reputation to live up to.

"Ah!" Atobe clicked his fingers. A vicious grin spread on his face. Some of the regulars took a step back. Atobe had just remembered something. "From today on you will be the tennis club's number one manager and you will stay as such until the end of this year. Do you understand?"

A little explanation is in order. The position of tennis club's number one manager was the most feared one of all in Hyotei. Though it was really cool that the club was so good and even cooler that the regulars were all either handsome or downright beautiful, it was an undeniable truth that all of the regulars (well, except for Ohtori) and most of the other members were pompous, bossy, demanding, unreasonable and almost impossible to deal with without getting stepped on -no, make that being crushed to the ground- leaving the poor victim moaning and crying on the brink of a mental breakdown. Things being this way it was only natural that it was _really_ hard to get managers to stay. Because Hyotei's tennis club was so big it needed plenty of managers. The number one manager was the one that had to take care of the regulars. That position was the hardest to fill. And now, like a gift from the gods, this little girl had practically volunteered. Atobe couldn't help but smile smugly.

…it's going to continue…

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Notes: At first I tried to call Hyotei's sleeping beauty Akutagawa but I found it impossible. Every time I wrote 'Akutagawa' it just felt wrong. So this is why Jiroh is called by his first name while the others are called by their last names. Don't know if you even noticed, it's just a thing that bothered me so I thought I should explain.

Also, English isn't my native language so forgive me if I make many mistakes. I do my best but grammar isn't one of my strong points.

Ah, and please review so that I know if you like it and if I should change something. (Thanks, kawaiikarupin!) This is my first attempt so please try to find a gentle way of saying 'You totally suck!' if that's what you want to say. Thank you!


	3. The New Manager

'Oh no, I'm late, I'm late!' Ayako thought frantically as she strode towards the tennis courts. She had Atobe's jacket tugged under her arm, the white parts of it practically shining. She had made sure there would be nothing to complain about. Although Atobe being Atobe there were no guarantees. And now she was late.

Atobe tapped his toes to the ground. Everyone's eyes immediately followed his movements. Nervous eyes watched as Atobe's toes rose from the ground and then sunk back again. When the movement suddenly stopped Ohtori let out a tiny gasp. It echoed in the thick silence that surrounded them.

"Ohtori! Ten laps!"

"Ha?" Ohtori paled and was about to say something when he received a glare from his captain and he yielded. "Hai!"

Shishido on the other hand hadn't been blessed with the ability to realise when to speak and when to shut up. "What?! You're making him run just because he made a little sound? Why don't you just- " He was cut off when Ohtori placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered: "It's okay, Shishido-san."

Unfortunately Ohtori had been too late to save his senpai. "Shishido, fifty laps." Growling and muttering under his breath Shishido started to run beside Ohtori. "The rest of you start practicing." Everyone scattered after hearing that, eager to get away from their captain who was in such a foul mood. Atobe retreated to a bench from where he watched others to train.

Five minutes passed before loud huffing could be heard and a panting girl emerged from behind a corner and hurried next to Atobe. Atobe had by now taken his 'I look like I'm in a good mood but you know it's just a bluff, don't you?'-look on his face. Ayako _did_ know it. Her hands trembled and her voice uneven when she said: "H-here's your jacket, Atobe-sama. I'm sorry I'm late. The teacher- "

"I'm not interested in your excuses", Atobe cut her off, taking the jacket out of her hand. "You're late and that's all I need to know." He stood up. "Get my water bottle, I forgot it in the club room. And after that you can join them for…say, twenty laps." Atobe pointed Ohtori and Shishido. He watched as Ayako ran to get his water and smirked. 'Hehe, what an obedient little puppy she is. Perhaps I should make her into another Kabaji. Hmm…now that's a thought.' The rest of the team paled when Atobe joined the practice, smiling to himself and looking altogether far too pleased in himself. They wondered with a faint of fear why his mood had changed so quickly as they knew it couldn't be anything good.

Ayako returned after a while, ran her laps -they, by the way, exhausted her to the point of falling to the ground and remaining there motionless- ,asked further instructions from Atobe and continued to perform her duties. The duties consisted mostly of fetching things for the regulars and fanning them with a huge fan. Mukahi and Atobe proved to be the worst cases while the others asked for her help only occasionally. Well, Hiyoshi would have loved to use her more but Atobe didn't let him. After all, he didn't even lend Kabaji to others and Kabaji was by now fully trained, so what were the chances of him letting his new servant be affected -_tainted_ as he himself said it- by others? A certain bespectacled boy from Seigaku would say that there's a zero percent chance of that ever happening. So that left Ayako running from Mukahi to Atobe, fulfilling their desires.

Oh, you might be wondering why Mukahi was allowed to use her when Hiyoshi was not. Well, the truth is that Atobe found Mukahi's whining voice extremely annoiyng and therefore often let him do what he pleased. Added to that -and I'm telling this in full confidence, don't tell Atobe where you heard this!- Mukahi almost always turned to Oshitari for help when Atobe _did_ forbade him something and quite frankly Atobe was a little afraid of the team's tensai. Not that he ever let it show, of course, he just discreetly avoided situations where Oshitari could be displeased with his decisions.

"Ayako-chan! Bring me the griptape from my bag!" Mukahi said balancing his racket leisurely on top of his index finger.

"Hai, Mukahi-senpai!" Ayako answered, ran across the court, passed Mukahi, ran another five steps, took the tape from the bag, traced the five steps back and gave the tape to Mukahi.

"Here you go, Mukahi-senpai."

"Takahashi! Go and wake Jiroh up. It's his turn to be beaten by ore-sama", Atobe ordered.

"Hai! Atobe-sama!" And she ran again, this time towards the sleeping boy and began to carefully shake him. "Akutagawa-senpai! Akutagawa-senpai! Atobe-sama wants to play a game against you. You should wake up. Akutagawa-senpai!"

A few hours later Ayako sank in her bed, dead tired, and dreamt of Atobe ordering her to do this and that. And so forceful and commanding was his voice that when Ayako's brother came home from his late night work he found Ayako scrubbing some old boots with an old piece of cloth, fast asleep, mumbling repeatedly: "Yes, Atobe-sama. Yes, Atobe-sama." And the strangest thing was that there was a tiny smile on her lips.

Notes: Sorry it took so long. I've been busy graduating and studying for entrance exams. I'll try to be quicker from now on. Next time we'll see what Ayako thinks of her new job and just why she was smiling. To tell the truth I'm not entirely sure of it myself. Oh, and thanks for the review!


	4. Spying

Notes: Well, what can I say? It's been forever. I always meant to finish this story and I have every intention of doing so but…you don't believe how difficult this fic is to write! I don't know why. I tried my best with this chapter but I don't know how well I succeeded. I hope it's not total crap and that someone out there will be able to enjoy this even a little bit. That would make me happy. Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter 4 - Spying

Atobe and Ayako were sitting behind a certain bush near the St. Rudolph's tennis courts. The bush conveniently hid them from the eyes of those on the court while letting them near enough to hear what they were saying. It was a perfect spot for spying.

Which the two, as Atobe had several times pointed out to Ayako, were obviously _not _doing. Geez! Why should he bother, anyway? He could beat anyone with a blindfold on and while standind on his hands. He didn't _need _to spy on his enemies. It were the enemies who always came to him. When Ayako had shyly asked why they were going to sit behind a bush near the St. Rudolph's tennis courts, she had received a glare that had told her: 'Shut the hell up! Don't question ore-sama's decisions!'. And, being the girl she was, Ayako had immediately given in.

Ayako had now spent a whole of three months as the manager and was thus a record holder. During this time she had learnt a lot about every member of the regulars, most of all about Atobe. The first thing she would've said if asked for advice on how to get along with Atobe would've been: 'Never question his decision'. The second thing that would've popped into her mind would've been: 'Always do what he tells you to'. These two basic rules had saved her more than once when Atobe had been…a little difficult.

And now they were here. Crouching behind a bush and trying to remain as silent as possible. Not spying. Atobe had explained that if caught they would say that they were just sitting there because it had seemed like a private spot. (Ayako secretly thought that Atobe didn't even bother to make up good excuses as he expected his actions never to be questioned.) That was why Ayako had been dragged with him instead of Kabaji who usually took part in Atobe-sama's…well, spying missions. No matter how hard Ayako racked her brains she couldn't come up with any other word than spying. Yep, Ayako was there because she was a girl (sort of, as Atobe had added. Ayako would have been deeply offended if the speaker hadn't been Atobe. Atobe was expected to say things like that.) as no one would believe that Atobe would seek a private spot to spend some quality time with Kabaji. Ayako hadn't been too sure that anyone would believe he would've done that to spend quality time with _her_ and quite frankly Atobe had shared her worry. Nevertheless, here they were now, sitting behind a bush and listening to the St. Rudolph regulars chatting away. It had proved to be rather entertaining, as Ayako had to admit.

"Mizuki, is your plan ready yet?" That was Akazawa, St. Rudolph's captain. Atobe had made Ayako memorize every member of the opposing teams by heart and Ayako being a fast learner (that's why she excelled in school) had promptly done so. Akazawa, she recalled, was short tempered, proud and loud. Constantly saying that he did not like playing doubles but even so continuing partnering with Kaneda. One line in the notes (received from the Hyotei tensai, Oshitari) had especially caught Ayako's attention. 'Prefers briefs over boxers.' Ayako had spent many hours wondering why Oshitari-san had bothered writing down something like that and even more hours speculating in which way had he obtained such information. She had not come to any conclusion. Well, at least none of the options that came into her mind could be voiced out in the presence of little children and therefore she had discarded them with flaming cheeks.

Mizuki chuckled and twirled a black lock around his index finger. Both of these actions were his habits, as Ayako knew from the notes. Besides Oshitari's neat handwriting had been Mukahi's much less dignified characters, saying: 'Makes you want to punch the bastard straight in his annoying face, break his fingers and cut his hair.' Ayako had found it quite amusig and she still did, even though after witnessing these acts she didn't agree with Mukahi. "Don't worry. I have everything under control. After we leave the courts that high-and-mighty captain of their's will be kicked out of the team due to poor performance in a match and that will be the last of the great Atobe-sama." Mizuki and Akazawa were referring to Hyotei and St. Rudolph's coming match.

"Hmph!" Atobe said in a low tone. Ayako turned to look and saw that Atobe had his cocky grin on. "As if that would ever happen, you loser."

Ayako suppressed a smile. There was nothing in this world that could waver Atobe's self-confidence. He had absolute belief in himself and didn't think anyone could beat him in anything. This made him look like a spoiled, arrogant child, especially since Atobe sought and loved attention in various ridiculous ways. But Ayako didn't dislike it. If anything, it made her want to cuddle him and shield him from the world like he really was a child. Which was ridiculous, as she had repeatedly told herself. How could she, a mere mortal, protect someone like Atobe? And why would Atobe let her? There was just no way of that ever happening. It made her a little sad.

Atobe continued his spy-- …Uh, well, he continued sitting behind a bush and listening. He seemed to be concentrating very hard. His grin had changed into a serious expression. Ayako found this fascinating. It was the same on the courts. When Atobe made his entrance he kept flashing confident smiles and boasting. But when he was playing seriously he changed completely. It was those moments that Ayako thought Atobe enjoyed the most. Atobe loved a good challenge. Of course he loved winning even more. But winning a tough opponent was the most satisfying experience. It also gave him many opportunities to flaunt himself and laugh at his opponents.

They spent the rest of the evening in a silence which to Ayako felt very comfortable. And even though she was pretty sure Atobe didn't share her opinion she was happy. She glanced at her side. It seemed that Atobe had completely forgotten that she was there. This couldn't dampen her mood though. She smiled, moved to a more comfortable position and watched the handsome, slightly frowning face next to her in quiet bliss.

After Akazawa had finally dismissed the sweating, panting and trembling St. Rudolph tennis club members Atobe stood up and stretched his aching muscels. He had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"They're training pretty hard. I think I'll have to press the regulars a bit more. I've been too soft." He looked at the sky with squinted eyes. Then he smirked and shrugged. "Oh well, at least I won't lose. They're not good enough to make me even sweat." He made his be-awed-at-by-prowess-pose and Ayako had to hide her smile. She knew this pose was a result of serious training. Oshitari had told her that Atobe had invented this pose in his first year in Hyotei and had perfected it by the end of his second year. After starting as the captain Atobe had come up with various different poses and phrases, all of them which he had thought were fitting for a leader of two hundred. They were well known amongst the students of Hyotei.

Atobe started walking away from the courts. "Come along, Ayako. We're going for a cup of tea."

Ayako sprang to her feet and hurried after him.

While they are heading towards the specific bakery Atobe had in his mind, let me explain something. Atobe had never hidden the fact that he was disgustingly rich. On the contrary, he had made it very clear on several occations by flaunting his wealth shamelessly. Of course this kind of behaviour was to be expected from Atobe-sama. However, it often surprised people that he nearly never payed for the things he ate or drank if he was not alone. He made his companions pay for him. This meant that Kabaji's pocket money always went down the drain-- Wait, no. Not down the drain because money can never be wasted if it's used on Atobe, right? Right. So let me correct myself. Kabaji's money was always wisely invested in Atobe's well-being. He had long since learnt to keep his money with him all the time. Ayako had learnt to keep hers after the grave mistake of not being able to pay for the cake Atobe had wanted. She had had the pleasure of running seventy laps around the court the very next day. Atobe had stood in the sidelines, fanned by one of his rabid fan-girls and drinking juice from a glass another fan-girl had brought him, every now and then ordering her to pick up her pace and stop slacking off. She never wanted to experience that again.

Atobe and Ayako reached the bakery and Ayako hurried to open the door. Atobe stepped in with air of royalty. Ayako felt the urge to bow down and hail the king. Instead she followed him into the bakery. Sweet odors filled her nose and she smiled. She really loved sweets. Her brother teased her about it and she had to admit that she perhaps liked sweets a bit too much. But she simply couldn't resist them. At least now that she had joined the tennis club she had no fear of getting fat since Atobe made her run laps almost every day.

Atobe clikced his fingers. Immediately Ayako stopped daydreaming and went to his side. "I want this, this and this." With that Atobe walked away and sat down near the window. Ayako made the order and payed for them. She sighed a little when she saw her money disappearing into the cash register but then she shrugged it off. She liked making Atobe happy. Sometimes Atobe even thanked her.

Ayako sat down opposite of Atobe and started nibbling at her own cake that looked really small in comparison to Atobe's luxurious, exotic pies. But she was not one to complain.

Their peaceful meal was interrupted by a booming voice coming from the door.

"I'm telling you, this is a good place. Just give it a try! You'll be surprised."

A much quieter voice replied. "I don't like sweets."

"There are other things than sweets here. Look! Like that one th--" The voice stopped abruptly.

"Who's the idiot that doesn't like sweets?" Atobe mumbled and turned to look. Ayako had already seen the owners of the voices and was staring in disbelief. Atobe's eyes widened. "Seigaku?!"


End file.
